When the going gets tough, the tough play tougher
by DetentionAce
Summary: Reid is living in a run-down motel with his brother 15  and his sister 10 . But when he is offered help, Luke is led to believe he is steal relationships in Oakdale. Will a confrontation with Reid change his mind? AU
1. Chapter 1

"Reid!"

21 year old Reid Oliver groggily opened his eyes.

"Reid! Tegan's climbing the TV again! Reid! She's gonna fall!"

Sitting up slowly, Reid noticed that his fifteen year old brother, James was right, his ten year old sister Tegan was on top of the TV, standing on one foot. "Tegan, honey, you've gotta get down. If you fall, I dunno what we'll do." Reid tried to explain to his little sister. But Tegan was a stubborn pre-teen and she wasn't one to listen to anything anyone else said, sadly, she'd gotten that from her older brother.

"No!" Tegan yelled. "I've almost beat the Olympic record, just two more minutes." The little girl explained, Reid sighed and picked up one of his two t-shirts of the floor. Slipping it over his head he looked over at James. The younger boy was sitting on the end of the small motel bed, wearing just his boxers, he was watching one of the few channels their TV got. Reid laughed, and James looked up at him.

"What's so funny?" The teen asked, Reid just shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing I guess, just felt like a moment to laugh." He joked, not really feeling the mood to explain. It was just their whole situation, it was something Reid used to laughed at the thought of, but now he was living it. If he believed in Karma, he'd say that was it.

Out of nowhere, Tegan squealed. Turninhg his head, Reid looked over at the TV just in time to see his little sister slip and fall off teh top of the electronic, that was on the shelf, above the sink. Reid automatically jumped out of sleep mode and into big brother setting. Running towards the falling girl, he reached her just as she hit the floor, hard. Tegan started wailing and Reid yelled to James. "Call the hospital,"

He lifted Tegan off the carpet and began carry her towards the bed.

"But, what about staying a secret?" James called back.

"Forget about that, Tegan needs a doctor, now!" He returned, laying her down delicatly on the bed. Lucky for Reid, he had taken two years of medical school before moving out to Oakdale with his syblings, so he knew enough to keep her safe, (ish), until real help arrived. "What hurts honey?" He asked softly, Tegan sniffed a few times and muttered,

"My leg,"

Reid looked down onto the younger girls leg and noticed a bright red liquid running down it. Carefully he felt around the cut to see that there was a small peice of metal inside. Tegan looked down at her leg only to see all the blood and squealed agian. Reid covered his ears as he ripped up a peice of his t-shirt and pressed down around the metal in the cut, just as he'd been taught at school. As Tegan began to stop screaming, he could hear the end of James's conversation with the 911 receptionist.

"Yes, 563 Hall Street. We're in the old motel...She fell of the TV...there's a lot of blood...please hurry."

The ambulance arrived shortly and the nurses were very impressed by Reid's actions. Informing him that if it wasn't for them, Tegan might have bled to death. When they reached the hospital, a lovly nurse named Allison asked for information on the patient and Reid lied, saying that they were on vacation, but Allison saw though his lies and demanded the truth, so Reid explained, "We were run out of our parents house about a year and half ago, we've been in the motel for about a year now, please, keep the knowlege limited."

"Of course." Allison replied, and she went on to ask how Tegan had gotten hurt, Reid explained thoroughly, before she left.

Reid sat down on the bench in the waiting room, as a younger man walked around the corner. "Why you here?" The younger man asked, sitting next to him, but Reid wasn't fooled.

"How much did you hear?" He asked, the man sighed and loked at his feet,

"All of it." He muttered, but then he looked back at Reid. "That's real sad man, why'd your parents kick you out..." Reid looked at the other with a confused look, and he continued, "...just a hunch." He explained, Reid nodded with recognition and smiled, kinda.

"I told them I was gay, my brother was expelled from school, and my sister stood up for the both of us." He explained, reluctantly. But deep down he was glad to get it all off his chest.

"Harsh man," The other man commented, "I'm Roth by the way." He added, holding out his hand

"Reid." Reid replied, placing his hand in Roth's to shake.

Just then the doctor who was caring for Tegan walked in. Reid turned automatically to him and asked, "Is she okay?"  
>"She will be yes," The doctor began, but Reid knew that wasn't the end of it. "If she stays stable long enough, we can remove the metal shard from her leg." The doc explained before turning on his heel and leaving the waiting room.<p>

Despite of himself, Reid turned and hugged Roth in the joy of the good news. The other man wrapped his arms around Reid and, awkwardly, hugged him back.

Meanwhile, Allison's boyfriend Casey walked around the corner, but seeing the scene he backed up. _What was Roth doing with this other man?_ He asked himself.

**What do you think? Interesting yet? Review please, and don't worry, i'll have the next chapter soon enoough. It will be in Luke's point of veiw.**


	2. Chapter 2

He was sitting in Java, with a cup of his favourite coffee, when he saw Casey running in like a wild maniac, his cell phone in his hands and his hair sticking out in all dirrections. Luke smirked as his friend recognized him and ran over to sit in the chair across the tabe. "Deep Breathes man, your gonna kill yourself." Luke said calmly, trying to lower the chance of Casey passing out from lack of breath. That would really put a damper on his already horrid day.

It had started at about five that morning, or it was supossed to of, but he had set the alarm and hour and a half late, so he wasn't up until six thirty. After a quick, and not-so-nourissing, breakfast of a bowl of ceral, no milk, he was off to his office to work. Against his wishes, Luke's mother had set him up to take two weeks off of school, work, and anything else distracting so he could get some work on his book finished. Sure he had lots of ideas, but no time. Lily Snyder had taken care of that problem, it was now up to Luke to get something done, or else he wouldn't hear the end of it for the rest of his life.

This 'imprisionment' had started three days ago, and since then he'd written almost 14 and a half chapters, whitch wasn't so bad considering he swore he was coming across constant mental block. And thats when it happened. Just that morning, Luke had done just as he's been joking about for three days now, his mind had just stopped. It'd run out of ideas, out of form, and out of muse. There really wasn't anything left for him to write with.

To his surprise, he's been alowed to walk down to Java and get a cup of coffee, considering the progress he'd had so far. But, and there was always a but with Lily, he had to be back in no more than two hours. He planned on doing just that, and he'd sure be darned if he didn't have somethng to write about by then.

So now, despite of his atempts to be left alone, followed by his mother's, he was sitting in Java, sipping a cup of coffee, and trying to calm one of his best friends down from what could have been one of three things. A terribly long run, A hugely shocking surprise, or A heart attack. He imediatly crossed out heart attack, seeing as Casey was sitting in front of him now. But that just left the run or the surprise, it had to be one of the other, it couldn't be both.

How very wrong he was.

"What's wrong Case?" He asked, Casey picked him his head and looking Luke deep in the eyes, he worry aparent among the blue.

Casey shook one long shiver, from the top of his head to the toes of his feet, before he spoke. Followed by a deep breath. Closing his eyes he whispered, almost soundlessly,

"I think Roth is cheating on Kyle."

"What?"

Casey looked up,

"I said, I think Roth is cheating on Kyle."

"I know what you said Case, I heard you the first time, I just couldn't believe it." Luke explained himself, suddenly furious with the world. He was, for several reasons, extreamly mad at anything around him, but the main two would be, One; his brain meltdown, and Two; Casey's acusation about Roth.

"How do you know?" Luke asked his friend, whom, even if he'd trust with his life, the truth wasn't really Casey's thing.

"I have pictures." Casey assured him, and Luke suddenly felt a lump in his stomach knot up into a huge ball.

Casey pulled out his cell and showed Luke the pictures he taken of Roth and the guy from the hospital. Luke examened them, and then concluded. "I dunno Casey, he could have just got some bad news and needed someone to with him a hug?"

"I see you point, but you weren't there, these two aren't in a 'Oh dear, i'm so sorry for you even though i don't know you.' its' an, 'thank you being my everything thoughout this who disaster,' hug.

Luke hesitated for a moment, but then realized that Casey did have a strong defending point. He was snagged. "So what is it you want me to do?" He asked politly, Casey just smirked in a way that made Luke a little uncomfortable. It's what normally came right before Casey talked him or Alison into doing something stupid that would, most definetly, get them in trouble. Luke had never liked getting in trouble, he was a good kid, taught by his father, well, his step-father, Holden Snyder. As soon as he was old enough to understand, Lily Snyder explained to her son everything she knew about his real father. Ever since that day he'd vowed not to turn into the blood-sucking leach his father had come to be. Holden had gotten a hoot over a nine year old Luke running around the living room with a broom chanting, "Knock It Down! Blow It Up! Is It Something? Take A Look!" The classic Snyder distruction chant. Lily hadn't been empressed, at first, but after a while she found it quite funny. Luke had, ever since that day, wanted to prove to Holden that he was meant to be a Snyder. And he kept trying, even today, eventhough he knew, and everyone else knew, he'd belonged to this family for many years.

"We're going on a stakeout!."

**Well wasn't that interesting. Just my take into the early years of the little Luke. Interested yet? How are they gonna pull off a stakeout on the great Dr. Oliver. Easy, he's not a doctor yet, nor is known to be great. It shouldn't be that long, right?**

**The next chapter is in Reid's view, as he gets some even better news about his little sister.**


	3. Chapter 3

sudden blinding light being blasted into the eyes hidden behind closed eyelids woke Reid Oliver up emidiatly, and, as if it didn't take anytime at all, his eyes flashed open and he stared into the face of a tired looking security guard. Glancing at the clock on the far wall of the hallway, Reid noticed that it was almost three am. No wonder the guard was tired, he would have been too, if it wasn't for that fact at after living pretty much alone for a year kept you on your feet and, if your lucky, the ability to not pass out from extream colds, heats, hights, lack of air, lack of hunger, tiredness, and pretty much everything else that could go wrong on the streets.

"Hey kid? You hear me? I said you gotta go, this is private property, not a homeless shp." The security guard snapped at him, laughing stupidly at his not-so-funny joke. Reid's rude personality kicked in right away and he replied. "Excuse me?" He coughed, but he wasn't done yet. "For starters, do you mind not pointing your flashlight in my eyes, thank you." He spat and the guard lowered his light. "Next, i'm not a kid, and i'm not homeless. I was given permission to stay here untill the morning. My sister's in the room behind me."

Reid stated pointedly, it was a lie, but the guard was most likely too dumb to figure it out.

"Who gave you permission."

Reid stopped short there, he hadn't thought it through that far...who could he chose..ha, the cheif of staff...Now who was he?

"Ummm...that one guy...the cheif off staff..."

"Bob Hughes?" The guard offered.

"Ya, him." Reid agreed, maybe thing guard really was as dumb as he'd though he was.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Hughes is on vacation with his wife. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." The guard demanded, but Reid wouldn't stand for that. As the security guard turned him around to cuff him, Reid took his shoe and slammed it into the guards crotch. The recently big and burly security guard fell to the floor as a tiny little mouse. Reid kicked him in the nose, just for good measure, and took off towards the back exit.

He was halfway there when he realized that James was still sleeping in the hosiptal, down the hall from Tegan's room, on the other side. Oh Great. Reid thought to himself as he comitted an about face and took off in the opposite dirrection, he had to get his brother before he could leave. Luckly, James was already up and peaking around the corner towards him, unluckily, James was staring at the comotion of the bleeding security guard as to other's tried to help him off the floor. They were too close, they were going to catch James any minute now. He had to do something, but what?

All of a sudden, he got an idea. "Hey Bozo! Remember Me?" He called out into the hallway, the security guard turned and glared daggers at him. God, if looks could kill.

"That's him, that's the kid who kick me." The guard growled, pointing a finger at Reid.

"Guess I didn't hit you hard enough, eh? Well, I'll get to that."

As the two standing guards ran at him, he mouthed the word 'run' to his little brother as he awaited the impact to two full-grown, muscled, security guard.

He smiled slightly as James quickly dissapeared around the corner, Reid knew he was heading back to motel, he'd never stick around if he was ordered not too, he understood what awaited him if he did. And it didn't usually have anything to do with Reid, just a hint. The smile then dissapeared and the guards spread their arms and jumped, landing square on his chest, one on either side. The men tried to hold his hands above his head, when someone, he couldn't see who, called out. "Oh No!" One of the guards turned around to look at the new-comer and Reid tried to move so he could see who it was, but the guard's arms held him snug. "I'm sorry about him, he's one of the patients. He's really confused and will pretty much be anyone at any point in time, except for himself. I can take him off your hands now." A familliar voice explained to the guards. They hesitated for a moment, but then slowly stood and Reid felt the air return to his lungs.

Still a little light-headed, Reid could just make out a petit figure hold out its hand, he grabbed it and the figure just lifted him to his feet. He followed slowly down the hall as his sight came back, breathe-by-breathe. "What are you thinking? Sleeping out in the middle of the hallway?" Reid shook his head and noticed who'd just saved his well-being and that of his younger syblings', it was that young nurse, Alison. "I didn't want to leave her, she's my little sister." Alision sighed and looked at her feet.

"I get it, don't worry about it, just don't do it again. I might not be around to save you next time." Alision said with a wink, before she turned on her heel and headed down the hall.

Reid decided that he wouldn't be able to go back that way he came, so he followed Alision and went out the staff exit, before taking off down the road to the motel that lay only a few blocks away.

**Great slip up on Reid's part eh? This chapter was more for fun that most anything else, but it also shows that Alison considers Reid worth helping out, whitch play a part in the story later, trust me. New chapter coming soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

Reid, the name of the man Casey believed Roth to be cheating on Kyle with, didn't live very far from the hospital, which made sense, if you think about it, because neither of them had ever seen him with a car. After Casey's proposle to set up a stake out to follow Reid home and see if Roth was cheating on Kyle with him, Luke had sugessted they watch him for a few weeks, just to get a hang of how he worked. Casey was reluctant, but he agreed eventually and they took turns over the following few days keeping an eye on the older man. It all ended when Casey had heard Roth and Reid talking about getting together later one afternoon at the hosiptal, he'd imediatly called Luke and he convinced his friend that they follow Reid that night, hopefully catching him and Roth in the act.

Whitch explained the fact that they were sitting in the front seat of Casey's truck, me with a pair of binoculars and him with a camera. The truck was parked right outside a motel parking lot, it was partly concealed by trees, but we still had a good view of the door we'd seen Reid walk into a few seconds ago.

He'd been met at the door by none other that Roth, maybe Casey wasn't as crazy as he'd first thought. Reid greeted his guest hesitantly, but had given him a handshake and a hug before steping into the rundown motel. That had been a few hours ago, and no one had exited since. he was starting to get inpatient, and he didn't know how much longer he could stay out here. "Casey, I don't they're coming out anyti..." he began, but Casey put his hand to my face.

"Shhhhhh." He said. Luke was apalled.

"Did you just shush me?" He exclaimed, but Casey kept his hand up.

"Luke, be quiet, someone's coming." I looked over my friends shoulder to see that he was correct, the door of the motel room was open a crack and someone was coming out of it.

"Can you hear what there saying?" I asked Casey, He looked at me as if I was the stupidest person in the world.

"Seriously Luke? Think about that for a second." He said, turning back to the door, with his camera ready in his hands to take the picture proof we needed.

When the door opened, though, the person who stepped out wasn't who we'd expected it to be.

Alison Stewart walked out from the doorway of the rundown motel we'd followed Reid to. Casey dropped the camera and fell back into his seat, Luke picked up the camera and kept it up for any sign of Roth. Allison smiled at Reid and laughed, he had a firm grip on her arm. She waved to someone inside and turned, but not before Reid grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. Allison walked slowly down the walkway to Roth's truck, just as the boy himself appeared in the doorway, he smiled and wrapped his arms around Reid, as the other man pulled away he placed one hand on Reid's shoulder and moved his face close to the cheek closest to the door, farthest from Luke, and kissed him. Right there on the door-step.

Casey was right, Roth was cheating on his boyfriend Kyle with Reid. But what did that mean for Allison, surely she wasn't cheating on Casey, she wouldn't do that, right?

"What is she doing here Luke, what is she doing with him?" Casey stuttered from the floor of his truck, Luke didn't know how to answer his question, for he really didn't know the answer.

"I dunno Casey, I really don't know."

"She said she had to visit her mom, out of town. She didn't mention anything about Reid." Casey muttered, Luke was shocked.

"It might be nothing Casey." He assured his friend, though his mind kept telling him that it probably wasn't only nothing, people didn't lie about where they were going unless they had a really good reason too and the only reason that was good enough to lie about in the minds of either Luke or Casey was the she was cheating on him, with the new guy, Reid Oliver.

The one thing we did miss, as I put my hands on the wheel and drove off down the road, was a little boy scampering down the drive to with Allison and Roth good-bye.

**Luke has it set in his mind to take action against Reid in his next chapter, while Reid is planning on getting himself familliar with the town of Oakdale with the help of a local mom, Katie.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the wait and the length, I couldn't think of what to write in this one. But don't worry, the next will definetly make up for it. Prepare for a Luke attack!**

They'd only been in town a week and they'd already ran out of food. God those kids could eat. Truthfully, if you asked any of them, they could all honestly say that Reid ate all the food, but he didn't think what he did get was enough. With a glum essence, Reid pulled himself out of bed on Saturday morning and called to his brother and newly-hospitaly-released sister, "I'm going out for food. Be back soon."

He hadn't put into his list of things-to-door to get a vechile for transportation, because he never stayed anywhere very long and they were too easy to track, so Reid just walked down the road to the local grocer's.

About an hour later, Reid was standing in the middle of the cereal isle, trying to decide between fruit loops and cherios. Seeing as he'd never had time, or money, for either it was a privlage to be able to spend fifteen minutes deciding between the two. The only problem tha tmight be seen ist hat he wasn't watching the store around him. So, out of nowhere, he was knocked to the ground, the boxes of cereal flying across the tile floor.

"What the..." He managed to get out before his back slammed into the floor, his head ending up somewhere around the two boxes.

"OhMyGosh! I'm sooo sorry." He heard someone say as a hand rushed down to check and make sure he was okay.

Reid shook the hand away and stood slowly on his own accord. "What was that?" He asked, turning to see a beautiful blonde woman standing not far away, with a baby in her arms, a horrified look on her face.

"I'm sooo sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going and I..." The woman began, but Reid held up his hand.

"Don't worry about it." He said, the woman suddenly smiled.

"Are you new here, I don't recognize you."

Reid nodded. "Yes, I just...moved into town. I work down at the hosiptal, only as an assitant, but I want to be cheif of staff someday." He didn't know why he was telling this total stranger his dreams, but he did and it didn't bother him extremly, she seemed nice.

"Interesting." The woman began. "Well, welcome to Oakdale. I'm Katie, and this is Jacob." She said, pointing to the little boy in her arms.

"Reid Oliver, its very nice to meet you Katie, and you Jacob." He began. "Do you know where a guy can get some decent coffee in this town?" He asked suddenly, Katie smiled.

"Yes, in fact. Why don't we finish off here and I can take you on a tour around the place. Show you all the good shops?" Katie offered, Reid considered it for a moment, before nodding.

"Sure, why not."

"And this is Old Towne." Katie anounced, gesturing to the general buildings around them. Reid nodded and looked around. His eyes finally resting on the sleeping Jacob in his stroller, he smiled, it was really quite peaceful.

"Its amazing..." He began impatiently. "Now where's this coffee shop you've been telling me about?" He asked, really thirsting for a good latte.

"Right around the corner, just be patient." Katie replied, laughing at him.

Reid just frowned and followed the blond and her son towards Java.


	6. Chapter 6

**Get ready for a Luke temper tantrum! He is angry now!**

Luke had followed Reid home from work, just to make sure that he would be at there when he went to talk to him. The traitor was at the motel again, which pointed out that he most likely lived there. Luke didn't know how to perceive that a man who held himself as high as Reid Oliver could live somewhere as horrid as a rundown motel. He shook his head, Reid was just full of surprises wasn't he..

Luke lifted his hand and, without a second thought, knocked. The sound rang out in the empty parking lot and he stood, waiting for the door to open. There were whispers behind the closed door, followed by shuffling, before it finally opened. Luke glared into the face of Reid Oliver, a false look of innocence on his face.

"Who are you?" Reid asked him and Luke scowled.

"Luke Snyder." He replied simply, looking Reid up and down. The man kept himself together well. He dressed fairly proper, though it was always the same set of clothes. His ginger hair was short and curly. In any other circumstance Luke would have called him kind of cute. But that wasn't something Luke wanted to think about, not with a cheater such as Reid.

"What do you want?" Reid asked rudely, Luke shook his head, removing any thoughts about Reid from his mind.

Luke hesitated, how would he go about this, how could he say it without hurting Reid's feelings? But a sudden thought came to him, why did he care? "I would simply like to know what the hell your doing with Allison Stewart?"

Reid looked taken aback and he stuttered as he said, "N-n-n-othing."

"How about Roth?"

Reid paused, but then he just shook his head. "Why do you care?"

Luke snarled at Reid's words, his temper rising. "Do you not know that they both have boyfriends, or do you just not care?" He yelled, Reid sighed and shook his head. A look of realization came over his face.

"Its not what you think…" He began.

"Ya! Then what is it?"

Reid opened his mouth to speak when a little girl, about the age of ten, appeared through a door at the back.

"Reid? What's going on? I heard screaming." She asked, Reid turned and his face softened.

"Its nothing honey, just go back to bed." He said.

Luke's temper had risen to its boiling point and his hand rose above his head, ready to slam down on the back of Reid's neck. The little girl's eyes widened suddenly and she took off. Jumping at him as his hands came down, she stopped him from damaging Reid in any way.

"What the….?" Reid said, but as he turned around he stopped. The little girl was on Luke's back, grabbing wildly at his long golden locks. "Tegan! Tegan get off! You're going to hurt you leg again!" Reid yelled standing up to his gull height and reaching over to grab the girl off of Luke's back.

The fight between the two men and little girl grew, so none of them noticed a fourteen year old boy walk out of the back room. "Reid…" The fighting stopped at the boy's voice. All three of the looked up and over at the boy as he continued. "Reid, if you don't tell him, I will."

**OOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm Excited Now, And I Know What's Going To Happen Next!**


End file.
